In various situations it may be advantageous to provide access for pedestrians to cross a wall and/or fence. In some situations, the wall and/or fence may be a protective barrier, and therefore may have specific structural requirements. In some situations, a wall may separate two areas having different elevations (e.g., the ground on one side of the wall may be higher than on the other side of the wall). For example, a wall and catch fence around a race track may provide a protective barrier for spectators watching a race from debris from an incident occurring on the race track. Additionally, the stands around the race track may be at higher elevation than the race track to provide spectators with a better view of the race. It may be desired to allow spectators to cross the wall from the stands to the race track for pre- or post-race activities and prevent spectators from gaining access to the race track during the race. Such access gates may be referred to as crossover gates, such as where the pedestrians climb over the wall through an opening in a catch fence, for example, using stairs and/or a ladder. The size and structure of certain existing access gates may limit the number and rate of pedestrians that may cross the wall during a given time period, may present additional safety hazards and difficulty of operation and use, and/or may compromise the integrity of the protective barrier provided by the wall and/or fence.
A number of deficiencies and problems associated with providing access to cross a wall and/or fence are identified herein. Through applied effort, ingenuity, and innovation, exemplary solutions to many of these identified problems are embodied by the present invention, which is described in detail below.